Unfair but balanced commentary on tax and budget policy, contemporary U.S. politics and culture, and whatever else happens to come up

Thursday, February 03, 2005

Hilarious idiocy

The White House, as linked on the Drudge Report, angrily explains today what a lie it is, per sources such as my previous post (quoting a high Administration official, to say that the Bush Social Security plan would take back investment returns from private account holders up to 3% annually, based on the funds they diverted.
Au contraire, the White House says, "Reality: Under President Bush's plan, participants would get EVERY SINGLE PENNY OF THEIR RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS -- BOTH the PRINCIPAL AND INTEREST."
To quote a bit more from the White House press statement:
"--For example, a worker who decides against taking a personal account might, in the future, get $15,000 annually in benefits from the traditional system, reformed to be permanently sustainable.
"--Another young worker could choose to invest in a personal retirement account. In exchange for the right to get the account, he gives up benefits from the traditional system. For example, he might give up one-third of those future government benefits, and be entitled to receive $10,000 annually from the traditional system.
"--A personal retirement account would belong entirely to the worker. If the account earns a 3% real rate of return - the worker would be right back where he started - at $15,000 of combined benefits per year."
Hold on, boys. The system you so indignantly distinguish from the one I described is in fact arithmetically equivalent to it, under ALL possible circumstances. It cannot possible make a penny's worth of difference whether you let people (a) keep the "$15,000 annually ... reformed to be permanently sustainable," while taking away retirement-account benefits up to 3% of the diverted payroll taxes a year, or (b) ket them keep their entire retirement accounts but take away an amount of traditional benefits equal to the same 3% per year.
Still, if it makes you happier to describe this as people's keeping "EVERY SINGLE PENNY OF THEIR RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS -- BOTH the PRINCIPAL AND INTEREST," while merely losing traditional benefits, I guess that going along with your preferred description is the least we can do for you, bubbalahs.
By the way, guys, could you help me with a small matter? I know you probably don't want to pay me for this blog, despite the Administration's largesse towards various journalists, given the sorts of things I say. But if you could see your way to paying me an amount equivalent to what you would pay me if you were paying me, that would be great. You see, I got expenses. And remember: you won't actually be paying me for anything. You will just be paying me the same amount as you would pay me if you were paying me.

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About Me

I am the Wayne Perry Professor of Taxation at New York University Law School. My research mainly emphasizes tax policy, government transfers, budgetary measures, social insurance, and entitlements reform. My most recent books are (1) Decoding the U.S. Corporate Tax (2009) and (2) Taxes, Spending, and the U.S. Government's March Toward Bankruptcy (2006). My other books include Do Deficits Matter? (1997), When Rules Change: An Economic and Political Analysis of Transition Relief and Retroactivity (2000), Making Sense of Social Security Reform (2000), Who Should Pay for Medicare? (2004), Taxes, Spending, and the U.S. Government's March Towards Bankruptcy (2006), Decoding the U.S. Corporate Tax (2009), and Fixing the U.S. International Tax Rules (forthcoming). I am also the author of a novel, Getting It. I am married with two children (boys aged 24 and 21) as well as three cats. For my wife Pat's quilting blog, see Patwig’s Blog.